LETTERS: CONCENTRATE ON QUALITY HEALTH CARE

To the editor:

I observe from a distance the goings-on of the health-care community in Cape Girardeau. Two recent events should cause residents to stop for a moment an wonder what's really happening.

On Dec. 31, MedAmerica HealthNet announced it was filing for bankruptcy protection. As I recall, one of MedAmerica's stated goals was to keep Cape dollars within the Cape community by making sure that health care was provided locally.

Earlier in the month, on Dec. 12, a press conference was held by officials of Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center announcing the creation of a joint study committee to examine the feasibility of an affiliation between the two. The press release states they wish to ensure that Cape Girardeau "remains a regional health-care hub, not a spoke of a larger, out-of-area system." Further, the committee is charged with determining "whether the affiliation would present greater opportunities for the development of new services, expansion of the market and improvement of existing services."

It seems to me that the MedAmerica failure should be a wake-up call to the group on the joint study committee. Rather than concentrating on new services and expansion of the market, they should be studying outcomes with a focus on quality. Rather than trying to ensure that Cape remains a health-care hub, they should be providing excellent quality services for reasonable prices in a regional-level hospital.

It's just not reasonable to expect that a hospital serving a region of 250,000 people can provide the same services of a hospital serving several million. At some point, they will have to face the reality that Cape Girardeau is a spoke and that more complicated, more expensive, more critical surgeries need to take place in hospitals equipped with the staff to create positive patient outcomes consistently.

No matter how much they study, do you trust the same group who brought you MedAmerica to come up with a successful plan to deliver quality health care at affordable prices?

BILL BAUMANN, Director of Human Resources

Columbia Sportswear Co.

Ridgefield, Wash.